‘I don’t think I am ready for a life without sunlight,’ Rykard thought, while taking hold of Vyra’s chin. An excited inhale accompanied the tall woman’s eager following of his unspoken command. Her breasts pressed against his chest long before her lips reached his. In the middle of the road, surrounded by the scarce passer-bys of the loosely poputed rural city, he cimed her lips all over again. Then, he gently pushed her another way. “Drink responsibly.”

  Vyra’s body seized up for a tense moment, then she loosened up all over and bowed towards his neck. Her mouth opened wide, giving room for her tongue to slither out between extending canines. From outstandingly sharp for a humanoid, to needles of pearly white, the fangs grew. The pointy, smooth tongue glided over Rykard’s skin, wetting his skin with some kind of numbing agent.

  The vampire trembled all over in anticipation, holding herself back for one final, approval-seeking gnce. Rykard wrapped an arm around her, practically pressing her agape mouth against the smooth of his exposed neck.

  He barely even felt the fangs penetrating his skin. His blood getting drawn into the hollow of her teeth, that was more notable. It was an unpleasant feeling, he had to admit, but he was entirely reimbursed by the moans that reverberated from her.

  Covertly, just by happenstance of how close they were, Rykard pushed his other hand between her legs. The yers of skirt and underwear made his touch light, and his worry about how much blood she was taking was distracting him too much anyhow. Even though neither his technique nor access were as good as he would have preferred, Vyra’s eyelids did flutter with orgasmic bliss. Doubtlessly it had more to do with the taste of his blood than his active efforts though.

  Once her orgasm had passed, the vampire dy carefully withdrew her fangs. They shrunk back down to their regur sharpness, before she delivered a second, considerably more controlled lick to the affected area. It served as much to p up the final few drops as it did to help the healing. Purebloods did not leave marks of their handiwork, unless that was desired.

  Rykard appreciated hickeys, but bite marks he left on his women, not the other way around.

  “Thank you,” Vyra sighed, dreamily. Her slit pupils were widened to an almost ludicrous degree, pushing the scarlett of her irises to the very edges around the ovals. All of her body nguage communicated the rexation of post-coital bliss.

  “How do I taste?” Rykard asked.

  “Master - you taste like a Master worthy of owning me as your eternal sve,” the vampire dy swooned.

  Rykard chuckled and scratched her under the chin, like a particurly obedient dog. “Good girl.”

  “I love you,” she moaned into the touch. Two seconds ter, she blinked. Then she blinked again, much faster. Suddenly, she snapped straight. “What I mean to say is… I… excuse me,” she stammered, colour rushing into her cheeks. “I merely… it was…”

  “Shhhh,” Rykard hushed her, thumb brushing over bck lips. “I understand. Bliss can make us confess to things we don’t know quite yet if they’re sting.” He pushed the tip of the digit past the full, raven cushions of her mouth, pinning the tongue behind. “Do not be ashamed of what you say to your Master in the heat of passion. I’ll earn every word in sober moments. That’s my oath, not as your Master or your dom, not even as your sovereign, but as your man. You understand?”

  “Yesh,” Vyra answered hazily.

  “Good girl.” Two words and she was on the edge of confession all over again. However, this time, the vampire dy managed to take a quarter step back. “You can just let go,” he encouraged her.

  “I prefer retaining a modicum of my self-control,” Vyra responded, with a clear gnce at his neck. “Bad things happen when vampires lose control, Rykard. You may be safe, but who I am now and everyone else around are not. Would you like to come home to your harem turned ghoul?”

  Rykard hummed deeply, wondering if Vyra was even capable of overpowering Miyo. The fox woman was still a prodigal daughter, even if she did not measure up to Rykard’s own might. For him to be interested in a woman on a permanent basis, she needed to be outstanding in at least one way.

  There was no need to be testy with it though. “There is immense value in a woman that can control herself,” he hummed and they continued their walk. “What if I told you to strip, right here and right now?”

  “I would oblige, of course, Master,” Vyra responded pinly, causing an overhearing man that was walking by to stumble. He quickly gathered himself and walked away, only gncing back once. “Although I trust you will not.”

  The distant ughter of children pying with a two-metre tall calf did put Rykard’s mind to more moderate thoughts. Bare breasts were his line when it came to nudity around minors and he would definitely be asking for more. “I suppose it is good I asked for that steak,” he turned the conversation to safer waters. “I have some blood to regain.”

  “‘Asked’,” Vyra repeated with a chuckle. “You demanded, milord.”

  “That is the royal variant of asking,” Rykard stated. After a few moments, he realized the half-worried gaze of the vampire dy. “Perhaps that came across as too harsh. As king my requests are orders, but I know there are reasonable boundaries.”

  “Good,” Vyra said pinly.

  They walked in silence for a little bit, reaching a rge flower patch in the middle of the city by pure coincidence. Rubble hinted at a house that had once stood there, forsaken by its owners and not recimed by anyone, leaving a property in the city to go fallow. A new kind of inhabitant had taken advantage of that.

  A mound had been erected in the middle of the property. Several openings, guarded by midnight blue and bck bumblebees, likely led into a tunnel system below, where the eusocial insects were doing what bumblebees did. Vyra tugged on Rykard’s arm, to encourage him to step closer.

  “They’re not hostile - provided you don’t overstep your boundaries,” the vampire dy assured him, even going as far as petting one of the guarding insects.

  Rykard mimicked the motion without a second thought. The fuzz was different from the fur of mammals in its texture, and pleasant in its own right. Lacking the vocal cords to express what it felt about the touching, the bumblebee provided either apathy or approval by just staying there while its falcon-sized body was getting scratched.

  “You said the increased size of nature was a consequence of what others did during the creation of your world?” Rykard asked.

  “Indeed and upon taking over the world, the change had permeated the soil. The wise ancestors had to choose between living with the change or combating it. As you can see, they chose the tter. Carefully, the dangerous animals were exterminated or contained in specific areas, should they reveal traits useful to the realm. The beneficial ones gradually developed to accept coexistence.” Vyra chuckled for a moment. “The first war following the unification of the world was one decred against ants. The supersized insects were too dangerous to be left unchecked. They devoured all in their path, sometimes leaving only deserts.”

  “A swarm that only cares to feed would be quite the threat, even without higher consciousness.”

  “Conveniently they competed with each other as well and were purely instinct driven. It made it a war on paper, due to resources allocated, but casualties were only due to idiocy.” Vyra backed away from the bumblebee, and so did Rykard. The insect shook itself once, then just remained right where it was. “Our embrace of the gigantism went a little further, however.”

  “Oh?” Rykard asked. “Do tell.”

  “The ancestor acquired the pureblood through a pact with a deity, following a Divine Game. Upon the end of the competition, a second pact was made. We would offer a part of the sunlight of our world, in return for the fertility and abundance across all nds we prayed for. This is the highest charge of the VanRaab dynasty - to maintain this pact in all nds we govern. In other words: for as long as I live and pray, the magic in this Hexagon will keep the days short and the nature extensive.”

  “Interesting,” Rykard rubbed his chin. “Will it be fine then if you leave this nd behind?”

  “As long as I visit once in a decade to renew my connection to it, there shall be no issue,” Vyra assured him. “Perhaps I can even extend it to other realms. This will require experimentation to find out.” She gnced at the sky. “I believe it is time for your meal, Rykard.”

  “Finally,” the king decred. He hadn’t had fresh meat in almost a week.

  The mayor had arranged everything to satisfying levels. A round table had been brought out to the main square and decked out with all the usual markers of high society. Expensive tablecloth, candles, two cushioned chairs, the whole nine yards. One side of the table held only a single chalice, the other ptes and eating utensils. There was a single issue with that, one that Rykard quickly fixed himself.

  Grabbing the chair and the chalice, he pced both next to his own seat. “You wouldn’t want me to sit apart from my woman, would you?” Rykard asked the mayor.

  “O-oh no, o-of course not, I am… I mean…”

  Rykard raised a hand to stop the stammering. “Don’t worry, it’s an understandable mistake to make. You’ve nothing to be sorry for, as long as you remember this in the future.” With that, Rykard and Vyra both sat down.

  Honeyed wine was poured into both of their cups. Vampires subsisted off the magical energy in bodily fluids, but they were still appreciative of certain intense fvors and wine was a cssic among them. Rykard, for his part, was more interested in the meal that was brought to him.

  It was a single sb of meat, bigger than both of his hands put together and thick. There were no side dishes, not even a single potato, just a few herbs that had been added to the fat in the searing process.

  Rykard cut into the meat with the hunger of a man that had spent all morning training a submissive that had drained him in two different senses. As the meat parted browned muscle fibres, juices pooled on the white porceine of the pte. The fragrance was incredible, as was the gradient of brown to red towards the steak’s centre.

  Losing no time, the king voraciously stuffed the first slice in his face and let out a deep appreciative hum. “Fantastic!” he let the gathered people know. He did not look up to gauge their reaction, too busy to get the next slice ready to be put inside him.

  “Wine?” Vyra offered.

  Rykard nodded and, much to his pleasure, was offered Vyra’s lips moments ter. The bckberry taste of her lips added a subtle note to the sweet beverage, as she carefully administered it. Not overstaying her welcome, she drew back once the wine had been transferred in full.

  Back and forth, Rykard went, between sweet kisses and rich bites of meat. At the end, he was intoxicated. Least of all by the alcohol and most of all by the sheer fullness of his stomach and spirit. “Your people are a national treasure,” he announced loudly, burping as gentlemanly as possible. “My previous decision to leave you to your own devices has been thoroughly cemented. You clearly know what you’re doing.”

  “Thank you, milord!” the mayor decred.

  “Now,” he knocked twice on wood. “After a great meal, one should rest or take a thousand steps. Vyra, if you would show me around some more?”

  “With pleasure, Rykard,” the vampire dy obliged, gulping down the rest of her wine before following after him.

  For several more hours, they walked and flirted, deepening their intimacy beyond the physical attraction they felt. Then, it came time to leave the Hexagon and return to the Estate.